Superinjunctions - can I get one?
May 18, 2011 11:20 AM Subscribe
Can I get a superinjunction or is it only for the very rich?
UK-based celebrities who are very rich have been using superinjuctions to suppress details of their private lives (normally extramarital affairs) being revealed in the media. Superinjunctions not only prevent this information being revealed but ban revealing the existence of the superinjunction. They are said to cost in the region of £100,000. However, my question is, Would an ordinary not rich person have to have recourse to the likes of Schillings or Carter-Fuck or could they just pop down to their local high street solicitor and get one for a few hundred pounds? I would point out that I am not thinking of getting one as I have a very boring life and nothing worth hiding even for £5.
UK-based celebrities who are very rich have been using superinjuctions to suppress details of their private lives (normally extramarital affairs) being revealed in the media. Superinjunctions not only prevent this information being revealed but ban revealing the existence of the superinjunction. They are said to cost in the region of £100,000. However, my question is, Would an ordinary not rich person have to have recourse to the likes of Schillings or Carter-Fuck or could they just pop down to their local high street solicitor and get one for a few hundred pounds? I would point out that I am not thinking of getting one as I have a very boring life and nothing worth hiding even for £5.
Legally, you could get one if you could prove that you needed one (I think that's how they work).
But what's the question, here?
posted by Lemurrhea at 11:32 AM on May 18, 2011
But what's the question, here?
posted by Lemurrhea at 11:32 AM on May 18, 2011
anyone can get a super-injunction, but I do believe you have to show cause about how "the news" will completely destroy your reputation.
posted by parmanparman at 11:34 AM on May 18, 2011
posted by parmanparman at 11:34 AM on May 18, 2011
Response by poster: The question is, Can an ordinary person, if s/he has something to hide (e.g. an extramarital affair) get one? This is purely hypothetical. Just curious.
posted by TheRaven at 12:39 PM on May 18, 2011
posted by TheRaven at 12:39 PM on May 18, 2011
As essexjan says, for an injunction, someone has to be enjoined. You'll note from the latest headline case that there are two defendants: the other party and the newspaper group who wanted to print her story.
So you can't go to a judge and inoculate yourself against some unknown random person spilling the beans.
posted by holgate at 1:44 PM on May 18, 2011
So you can't go to a judge and inoculate yourself against some unknown random person spilling the beans.
posted by holgate at 1:44 PM on May 18, 2011
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The pre-requisite for an injunction is that you're taking it out to injunct - i.e. stop - someone from doing something. In the recent media cases, the, ahem, unknown celebrities take them out to stop a newspaper from publishing a story about them. So unless someone is about to do something which you want to stop, you'd have no need for an injunction.
Whilst a High Street solicitor could in theory take this on it's unlikely because libel/defamation/privacy is a specialised area of law, where there are very, very fine distinctions to be drawn between what is defamatory and what is fair comment. The newspapers all have expert lawyers, and so it would be a particularly foolish/fearless High Street lawyer who'd take them on without specialist knowledge, because the costs implications of an unsuccessful application are huge.
posted by essexjan at 11:31 AM on May 18, 2011